NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Discrimination against the
overweight may be about as prevalent as racial discrimination,
the results of a survey of U.S. adults suggest.

Using data from a survey of nearly 2,300 Americans,
researchers at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut found
that 5 percent of men and 10 percent of women said they had
faced discrimination because of their weight -- ranging from
job refusals to rude treatment in everyday life.

Among respondents who were severely obese -- having a body
mass index

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(BMI) of 35 or higher -- 40 percent reported instances of
weight discrimination. A body mass index is the ratio between
height and weight commonly used to classify individuals as
over- or underweight.

Weight bias also rivaled the prevalence of other,
long-recognized forms of discrimination, the researchers report
in the International Journal of Obesity.

Among women, weight discrimination was the third most
common form, behind sex and age discrimination. Among all
adults, it came in fourth overall, after sex, age and racial
discrimination.

The findings point to a need for "organized efforts" to
combat weight bias, the researchers note in their report.

This would include building awareness of weight
discrimination and its consequences, Puhl noted, as well as
improving media portrayals of obese individuals. Overweight
people should also have legal protection against
discrimination, she said.

The findings are based on a nationally representative
sample of 2,290 Americans ages 25 to 74 who were surveyed
between 1995 and 1996.

Respondents were asked whether they had ever been victims
of discrimination based on race, religion, sex or various other
reasons, including weight.

Of the men and women who reported weight discrimination, 60
percent said they had experienced work-related discrimination,
such as not being hired, being passed over for promotion, or
being wrongly fired.

Many also cited day-to-day types of discrimination, like
being treated with less respect or courtesy than others, or
being "perceived as inferior." And compared with victims of
other forms of discrimination, those subjected to weight bias
were more likely to say they had been called names or overtly
insulted.

Women were particularly likely to perceive weight bias,
with twice as many women as men reporting such discrimination.

This may not be surprising, according to Puhl, given the
"stringent and unrealistic ideals of thinness that are placed
on women in North America."

Indeed, the study found that women seemed to be vulnerable
to weight discrimination even if they were moderately
overweight, whereas only severely obese men reported
discrimination at a rate comparable with their female
counterparts.

"This means we need to be especially aware of the negative
experiences and effects of weight bias among females," Puhl
said.